You mentioned range being a downside. For a couple grand you can get a 40gal LRA and solve that issue. Doesn't solve MPG problem of course. I put one in my 200 and loved it so much I have one going into my 80 as well. All that said, right now I have a 70 mile a day commute and drive an ES300 Hybrid. Can't beat 38 MPG... pays for itself.
I have a 200 for a dd. 12 miles a day. Love it. Take it on long trips too. My partner drives a 2014 Audi SQ5. It is the supercharged version of Q5, which is just a bit smaller than the Q7. It gets good mileage, have had no problems whatsoever and is quick when you need it to be.
I daily my 2013 LX and very happy with the ride that is why I'm keeping it stock. I'm worried that if I put KO2 in it then acceleration and mpg will suffer.
I use mine as my DD. I am lucky it's a 5 mile round trip. I used to get ok mpg on the highway, 17-20mpg, but after mods and a lot of weight added I get maybe 12 to 13 mpg which is really annoying on long trips having to stop all the time to fill up. We went from NYC, to the back of CT and then to mid Maine and back to NYC. It was about 350$ in petrol and felt like we had to stop every 2.5 hours to fill up. Would have been cheaper to fly! lol Also handles completely different. My wife almost rear ended her uncles Tesla following him too closely in traffic. Jokes where made about what would have happened. LC vs Tesla. I used to whip around but no more. That being said we can also go pretty much anywhere in comfort, sleep and cook real food so for me it's worth the gas cost. And I am seriously considering a second tank...
It sounds like you are leaning towards getting another LC? They are great family cars! If you get a full sized roof rack you will ample storage for a long family trip. Take out the third row seats even better. If you don't mod the hell out of it the mpg is kinda not that bad for a powerful V8 motor. I don't think toyota makes the LC for folks that are worried about mpg. They have the Prius for them.
^I can't recommend the aux tank enough. Even for my lightly modded LX, it works wonders. The feeling of having extra leash is exactly in line with why we all have cruisers - to go farther in our adventures. The bruiser will never be happy tied down to the pump.
I would most likely end up adding the smaller 12.5ga. to keep the spare in place and it’s not a lot more weight being added carrying so much fuel around.
I daily and in the city on 34" rubber I average 12.5 mpg. The mileage doesn't bother me as I don't drive far at all on a daily basis and on long trips that's where it shines so I'm happy to pay a small price with the 16 mpg I get at 75-80 mph. I will say that 35" tires are going to feel somewhat cumbersome around town, I think as a daily you'd really want nothing larger than 34".
My philosophy on the household car stable is evolving from "one of everything" to one in which we have fewer and each car/truck fulfills a purpose without lots of overlap. For instance, my wife drives a Volvo sedan and my current thinking is if she moved to a true city car that was fun to drive and got good mileage like a Fiesta ST we would have a lot of bases covered with just the Cruiser and that. Throw in a older Tacoma for workshop duties and I don't know what I'd be missing by getting rid of the three other vehicles I own and the Volvo. Just food for thought.
I daily and in the city on 34" rubber I average 12.5 mpg. The mileage doesn't bother me as I don't drive far at all on a daily basis and on long trips that's where it shines so I'm happy to pay a small price with the 16 mpg I get at 75-80 mph. I will say that 35" tires are going to feel somewhat cumbersome around town, I think as a daily you'd really want nothing larger than 34".
My philosophy on the household car stable is evolving from "one of everything" to one in which we have fewer and each car/truck fulfills a purpose without lots of overlap. For instance, my wife drives a Volvo sedan and my current thinking is if she moved to a true city car that was fun to drive and got good mileage like a Fiesta ST we would have a lot of bases covered with just the Cruiser and that. Throw in a older Tacoma for workshop duties and I don't know what I'd be missing by getting rid of the three other vehicles I own and the Volvo. Just food for thought.
I daily my 2013 LX and very happy with the ride that is why I'm keeping it stock. I'm worried that if I put KO2 in it then acceleration and mpg will suffer.
I daily my LX in rush hour traffic. Approximately 75 minutes each way to do 15 miles... each way.
It is actually quite comfortable if you don’t mind a few people cutting you off here and there. It has become a very low stress commute with the LX as opposed to the GS Fsport I was driving. Before that I was dailying my WRX and that was, I must say, the most frustrating car to drive in rush hour traffic due to it having no low end torque whatsoever.
My wife drives an Lx570 as a daily and I drive a 100 LC. Fuel economy is an issue... but... yeah I got nothing... fill up at Costco and cry myself to sleep???
The LC’s give us piece of mind for reliability and safety - that’s it for me. We travel from Seattle to the mountains and pacific coast on a regular basis, no mods, just winter tires for us and they do everything we need them to comfortably. We have owned a GX470 & 460, they did what we needed them to (Throw an RX in between also), but there is something to be said about the cruisers that just makes it better.
Man you are all over the place..... Have you considered a Sequoia TRD Pro, meets all your requirements except for range but really can you go more than 300 miles without stopping for some reason?
Man you are all over the place..... Have you considered a Sequoia TRD Pro, meets all your requirements except for range but really can you go more than 300 miles without stopping for some reason?
Not sure what you mean by “all over the place” but I’m a research junky to a fault. I will be posting a picture of my new LC in a few days after the wheels are power coated. I don’t like to stop but when I’m traveling with family, I generally stop when it’s time to refuel and that is generally around the 300mi. mark, so I’m sure they’ll be happy having to stop every 300mi. or sooner. The Sequoia is to large and boring. I’d rather buy a Denali if I’m going that big. LC checks most of the boxes and that’s why I just pulled the trigger on a almost new one
